FEASIBILITY ANALYSIS AND DRAFT PRODUCT CRITERIA Project “A bottom-up, stakeholder-driven product for individual senior off-season travel to rural micro- and SMEs, established and managed through corporate agreements” This project has been funded with support from the European Commission CONTENT Content .............................................................................................................................................2 1. Introduction ...............................................................................................................................4 2. Expectations and needs. .............................................................................................................5 2.1. Summary from senior organisations NFE (NL) and ANCESCAO (IT) .............................................. 5 2.2. Summary of brainstorm meeting with the focus group, Eurogites members. ............................. 8 2.3. Summary on End User research in the Netherlands ................................................................... 10 2.3.1. Rationale and methodology ................................................................................................ 10 2.3.2. Analysis and cross referencing the data ............................................................................. 11 2.3.3. Conclusions ......................................................................................................................... 15 3. Product examples: senior tourism on the market ...................................................................... 16 3.1. Norway: VITAL TOURS, http://vitaltour.no ................................................................................. 16 3.2. Agrihotel Roero, http://www.agrihotelroero.it/Seniorreiser ..................................................... 16 3.3. Norway: Senior Travel, http://www.senior-travel.no/var-filosofi/ ............................................ 17 3.4. Latvia: Jūrmala SPA hotel, http://www.hoteljurmala.com/en .................................................. 17 3.5. Dikļi Manor, www.diklupils.lv ..................................................................................................... 18 3.6. Marciena Manor, www.marciena.com ....................................................................................... 19 3.7. UK: Saga, http://www.saga.co.uk ............................................................................................... 20 4. Information and sales channels ................................................................................................. 22 4.1. The Netherlands .......................................................................................................................... 22 4.1.1. Fairs in the Netherlands ...................................................................................................... 22 4.1.2. Magazines in the Netherlands ............................................................................................ 22 4.1.3. Travel organisation in the Netherlands .............................................................................. 22 4.2. Belgium ....................................................................................................................................... 22 4.2.1. Fairs in Belgium ................................................................................................................... 22 4.2.2. Magazines in Belgium ......................................................................................................... 22 4.2.3. Travel organisations in Belgium .......................................................................................... 23 4.2.4. Websites in Belgium ............................................................................................................ 23 4.3. Italy.............................................................................................................................................. 23 4.3.1. Fairs in Italy ......................................................................................................................... 23 4.3.2. Magazines in Italy................................................................................................................ 23 4.3.3. Travel organizations in Italy: ............................................................................................... 24 4.3.4. Web-sites in Italy ................................................................................................................. 25 5. Expo Database – International Trade Shows Senior Citizens: ...................................................... 26 6. Product criteria draft for rural tourism off-season products for active seniors 50+ ...................... 26 7. SenGoR WP1+2 – “Operative Systems” ..................................................................................... 29 7.1. Rationale ..................................................................................................................................... 29 Page 2 7.2. Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 29 7.3. Results of research ...................................................................................................................... 30 7.4. Recommendations for application in SenGoR ............................................................................ 34 7.5. Annex .......................................................................................................................................... 34 7.5.1. Guest cards ......................................................................................................................... 34 7.5.2. Cheques vacances ............................................................................................................... 35 7.5.3. Gift tokens ................................................................................................................................. 35 7.5.4. Pre-paid electronic card ...................................................................................................... 35 7.5.5. Mixed .................................................................................................................................. 35 8. Useful links ............................................................................................................................... 36 9. Annex 1 .................................................................................................................................... 37 Project Partners: Latvian Country Norwegian Rural Toerisme Vlaams- European Federation Tourism Association tourism and local Brabant (BE) of Rural Tourism – "Lauku ceļotājs" food "HANEN" www.toerismevlaa EuroGites www.countryholidays.lv www.hanen.no/ msbrabant.be www.eurogites.org ANCESCAO (IT) Lithuanian Countryside NFE – Nationaal www.ancescao.it Tourism Association Ouderenfond (NL) of Lithuania www.ouderenfonds.nl/ www.atostogoskaime.lt Page 3 1. INTRODUCTION This document is part of WP1 of the SENGOR project. Its aim is to estimate what rural tourism off- season products are feasible in the market and to define criteria for such products as a guidance for rural tourism service providers. The document is based on descriptions of senior needs and expectations as outlined by the project partners representing senior organisations (NFE, the Netherlands and ANCESCAO, Italy), on product development experience of trade organisations – project partners and on product descriptions available on the market. Target group of the product According to NFE, the Netherlands National Foundation for the Elderly (paper “Needs and expectations of older people”), the market includes at least 3 different groups of seniors: Young Seniors, Active Seniors, Old Seniors. Seniors are grouped this way according to self-perceived age and behaviour. According to ANCESCAO (paper “Needs and expectations of older people”), the target group can be identified within a range of 50-85 years old and are defined as "active seniors". It is suggested by both - NFE and ANCESCAO that the SENGOR project products “Seniors Go Rural” focus on active seniors. Active seniors: This group is aware of their older age and therefore wants to enjoy their life to the maximum. They spend their money on nice things that are meant for people of their age. Their motto is ´you only live once´ and they want to keep active and enjoy themselves. They are not adverse to using products for older people (hearing aids, glasses, walking aids, etc.’) if that is necessary to keep on staying active. It is part of becoming older. This group is very important for SENGOR, as it is a group that is travelling a lot and is spending money on these activities. They might have specific needs related to accessibility and access to care in case of an emergency but they do not need care services. Project partners – trade organisations – provided examples of potential “Seniors Go Rural” products. Further in this analysis, the needs and expectations described by NFE and ANCESCAO are applied to these rural tourism products in order to find out what products are relevant for Active seniors and match the needs/expectations with products and services. This paper should lead to definition of product criteria for “Seniors Go Rural” products. Page 4 2. EXPECTATIONS AND NEEDS. 2.1. Summary from senior organisations NFE (NL) and